1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a sheet film magazine for an X-ray film exchanger which magazine stores the sheets of film between a cylindrical surface of the drum and a belt coacting therewith.
2. Prior Art
In a known type of sheet film magazine, the unexposed X-ray films are rolled from a supply roll and transported one after another between foils. The unexposed X-ray film together with the foils are then rolled onto a drum. A drawback of this prior art film magazine comprises the fact that the construction is expensive and that the operation of the magazine is expensive due to the requirement of supplying the foils.
Another known plane-film exchanger comprises a storage container for the unexposed sheets of film. Radially shiftable, mounted friction members are present for transporting the sheets of film from the storage container to the exposure station. Due to friction, the rotating friction members will guide the film in a direction toward the exposure station and insert the film between intensifying foils or plates with a great deal of speed. However, this known device usually damages the surface of the unexposed film during the fast rotation of the friction members. Furthermore, it is possible that several film sheets will be seized simultaneously by the rotating friction members and inserted together between the foils.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,448,979, a technically complicated system or device for transporting film sheets from a stack is described. In addition, the device may accidentally simultaneously sieze more than one sheet at a time. Furthermore, this device is position dependent, i.e. it can only be used in certain positions.